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Double victory for the 911 RSR

Successful fiery battle for Porsche: At the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Earl Bamber and Frédéric Makowiecki have won the penultimate GTLM race of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy clinched second.

With five manufacturers, the GTLM category is the most hotly contested. Patrick Pilet (France) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) clinched second with the winning racer from Weissach, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car. After Long Beach, this is the second win this season for the 911 RSR in the USA.

In temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius, Patrick Pilet got the best start on the 5.472 kilometre Grand Prix circuit in the hills near the Texas capital. At the wheel of the #911 Porsche 911 RSR, the defending IMSA GT champion snatched one position in the first lap and slotted into second place behind the leading Ferrari. Making the most of his slipstream, Frédéric Makowiecki (France; #912) also swept past a rival. These three then proceeded to pull clear of their pursuers, putting the 911 on course for podium results shortly after the start.

Earl Bamber secured the first win of the season for him and Frédéric Makowiecki

At the first pit stop, Nick Tandy took over driving duties from Patrick Pilet, with whom he had won the Long Beach race earlier this season. In the 27th lap, he moved into the lead of the GT field. In the second 911 RSR, Earl Bamber (New Zealand) maintained third place. In lap 35, the Ferrari again took the lead, but the 911 RSR kept the frontrunner under heavy pressure. With 25 minutes left of the 2.40-hour race, the Ferrari had to make an unscheduled pit stop, thus handing the lead at the hottest race of the year to Porsche. In the final phase, Earl Bamber overtook his leading teammate and secured the first win of the season for him and Frédéric Makowiecki in the most important sports car championship on the North American continent.

Equally as gripping was the GTD-class race in which customer teams campaign the Porsche 911 GT3 R. The former Porsche Junior Alex Riberas (Spain), who had tackled the race from pole position for the Seattle/Alex Job Racing squad, defended his lead over long stretches. His teammate Mario Farnbacher (Germany) was on course to claim a seemingly safe second place when he stranded with an empty tank. In Park Place Motorsports’ 911 GT3 R, Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and his teammate Patrick Lindsey (USA) finished fifth.

Race quotes

Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport: “That was an incredibly exciting race: A heated battle in which the tyres played a major role. We profited somewhat from Ferrari’s bad luck, but we then drove a clean race to the flag. All in all it was a great performance from the drivers and teams under difficult conditions. I’m very pleased.”

Patrick Pilet (911 RSR #911): “A fantastic success for Porsche. I got away well off the line and passed the Ford. After that the race ran problem-free. Our car has proven hugely consistent over the entire season. We were able to successfully utilise the strength of the 911 RSR under these extreme conditions.”

Nick Tandy (911 RSR #911): “This race was perfect for Porsche. With the exception of the Ferrari we could control the whole field. I’m also delighted for our teammates in the 912. They really deserve this win. For us it was great to be back on the podium.”

Earl Bamber (911 RSR #912): “This victory belongs to the entire team. We saw today that the 911 RSR was the most consistent car over the distance under such extreme conditions. First and second place – a great success for Porsche.”

Frédéric Makowiecki (911 RSR #912): “We didn’t necessarily have the fastest car today, but we could maintain a decent pace over the entire race distance. We’ve been working towards this win over the whole season. Finally everything came together. This is precisely the motivation we need heading to the season finale at Road Atlanta.”

The eleventh and final round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship will be contested on 1st October on the storied Road Atlanta racetrack in Braselton in the US state of Georgia.

This is the IMSA SportsCar Championship

The IMSA SportsCar Championship is a sports car race series contested in the USA and Canada, which was run in 2014 for the first time. The series was formed from the merger of the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Series. Sports prototypes and sports cars start in four different classes: GTLM (GT Le Mans), GTD (GT Daytona), P (Prototype) and PC (Prototype Challenge). The Porsche 911 RSR runs in the GTLM class, with the new Porsche 911 GT3 R contesting the GTD class.